


Collective Failure

by Bakurakrazie



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Scott Pilgrim - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Polychromatic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-13
Updated: 2011-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-26 01:09:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/276889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bakurakrazie/pseuds/Bakurakrazie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen Stills from Scott Pilgrim gets asked out by Demyx from Kingdom Hearts. Setting is the LiveJournal RolePlay, Polychromatic. Hopefully a lot better than I'm making it sound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First to failure

**Author's Note:**

> Stephen's player and I had briefly talked about how if Stephen and Demyx were dating, it would just be one collective failure of a relationship. And THEN she told me to write the Stephen/Demyx fail!fic, so blame her completely for all of this! A little more on the setting, I twisted this into a semi-AU in that Neil's response is different. And, uh, also Demyx has a human body. Because otherwise fluids are Darkness, and that's awkward. Also, obviously Stephen is on the 'off-again' part of the cycle with Julie.

It had all started on the day of the [not-a-date blind date](http://tampered.livejournal.com/925027.html) that he and Neil had had.

 _"You said that it was alright that I wasn't dating."  
"Well, yeah. I mean, it's okay that you're not dating. But, like, you _want _to date someone, right?"  
"Huh? Why? Is it weird if I don't?"  
"Well, yeah, kind of."  
"Oh."  
"Well, hey, maybe you just need to find someone you wanna date, first."  
"Yeah."_

And after that, Demyx set his mind to finding someone.

It wasn't as though he didn't know that he was weird. He was weird, and most of the people that he talked to were weird in a lot of ways. But not- _this_ type of weird. This was more the kind of weird that went against what encompassed 'human'.  
He considered it. Anyone from back home was totally out, for a lot of different reasons. So, someone from the City. Should be simple enough; he talked to a _lot_ of different people, although currently not too many people knew about the whole Nobody thing. But there were a bunch of people that he was close enough with that he could ask out on a date.

And that was how Stephen Stills found himself alone in the practice room, after Time Bomb had finished rehearsing, not quite believing what he was hearing, and internally panicking.

"What-?" Okay, so, maybe it was showing on his face a little, and maybe his breathing was getting a little more shallow, but how could he concentrate on that when _Demyx_ of all people was asking him, well, this.

"Uh. Well, I mean, we're in the band together, and we get along, right?" He was pouting. He had no idea why he was pouting, but he was pouting, and Stephen stopped shaking as much, and even managed to choke out a laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah, dude, we get along, but just because I don't really have any problems with you doesn't mean I'm gonna go on a date with you. I mean, I had a girlfriend back home, remember? Why would you even assume-" And damnit, he can't even finish that sentence. This was the entire reason he was panicking in the first place. That last break-up with Julie had made him question his sexuality, and he hoped to god that it hadn't been showing. But if Demyx, easily the most oblivious person he'd ever met, and that's _including_ Pilgrim, was able to tell, then there was no hope for him concealing himself from everyone else.

"Oh, well, yeah, but- Wait, does that matter?"

And Stephen was breathing normally again. It was just him being stupid. And then he laughed for real.

"Yeah. It does. Like a lot. Straight people only go after people of the opposite sex, and gay people go after people of the same sex."

"Yeah, I guess I pretty much knew that, but, aren't there people who go after both?"

And after considering his options: 1) Demyx just wanted a couple of dates that couldn't possibly be taken seriously, 2) he clearly had no interest in anything sexual, 3) Stephen could maybe figure out what he was feeling, himself, 4) he was to tell no one (which he had pouted at- possibly in confusion?- saying that he thought dating was public, but alright if he said so), and 5) they actually _did_ get along pretty well, he'd said yes.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was a month later. Dating Demyx wasn't so bad. Probably more because it wasn't really dating. It was just them, hanging out a lot. Which was what wasn't so bad about it.

Then again, it was also what _was_ kind of bad about it. He figured that they would have done _some_ thing by now. Considering their relationship, not sex, but hell, they hadn't even kissed or held hands yet! It was getting frustrating. Part of the reason he'd agreed to this in the first place was to test his own sexuality out, to see if he was attracted to kissing another guy.

Okay, so Demyx had told him about that whole Nobody thing, which he had a hard time grasping sometimes. But he was okay with the idea of Demyx belonging to some sort of Organization, which, he grinned wryly, Campbell was right about, it did sound like a cult. And he was really okay with what he'd been able to do with his sitar. It'd given him a whole new perspective on him playing in the band, and why he was always at the beach and the fountain.

But still, with the explanation of the Nobodies, had come the explanation that he didn't believe that they had no emotions. And Stephen had bought it, because, hey, he could believe it from how he'd seen Demyx acting, and it all seemed genuine. So if it was all genuine, then why was it that the most intimate thing that they'd done was watching a movie together on their couch, with Demyx squished on the other side of a clueless Neil?

Maybe he was just being overly-thinking things. At any rate, he decided that on their next 'date' he was going to figure it out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Demyx arrived at Stephen's place, like usual, via portal, like usual, to learn how to cook, like usual. This was sure to play out to be like every other date that they'd had so far, minus a few movie ones. Demyx didn't have a problem with that, though. It was pretty cool doing this dating thing with him, and any uneasiness he had about it in the beginning were pretty much gone.

Plus he was getting pretty good at this whole cooking thing.

Pretty passable, anyway.

Well, Stephen hadn't shown him anything with daikon so far, so that was good enough for him.

As he stepped into the kitchen, he threw his hood back and grinned. Stephen was waiting in there, as usual, with a bunch of bowls and ingredients laid out on the counter. He was looking a little off than his usual demeanor, at first, but he still gave a small smile and a wave as Demyx walked further into the room.

"Hey. We're going back to basics. You remember the chocolate chip cookies we made?"

"Yeah! They were good." Demyx had reached in and pulled out an index card almost immediately after the question had been posed to him.

Stephen gave an amused snort and rolled his eyes half-heartedly.

"Right, well, we're doing them again. We'll see if you improved at all from learning how to do other stuff."

"Alright, cool!" He stares at the card for a moment and then moves to the measuring cups, and stares at the ingredients on the counter. "Uh."

"What is it?"

"Which one is the sugar, again? There's a lot of white stuff on here."

He got a blank look in return, before turning a specific carton around, which has been clearly labeled SUGAR on a piece of masking tape.

"Oh. Uh, right." The next fifteen minutes went relatively smoothly and silently, aside from a few critiques _"Dude,_ tea _spoon, not_ table _spoon, you do_ not _need that much vanilla." "The batter's supposed to be smooth, but the chips are making it lumpy, is that okay?" "I swear you're the only person I know that wears oven mitts over a pair of gloves."_ , and the cookies are baking in the oven. Stephen smiles approvingly.

"Pretty good job. Maybe next time I'll have you do it without your little cue card, see how you do it on your own after a few more practice runs."

"What?" He was pouting a lot now. That seemed hard! He could barely get it _with_ the instructions. Stephen just snorted at him.

"Hey, so, I've kind of got a question."

Demyx cocked his head to one side. He _kind of_ had a question?

"Uh, yeah, sure. What?"

"Well, we're dating now, right?" Demyx nodded once, "and you know how when people date they do stuff? Like, physical stuff." He nodded again and Stephen continued, "Right, so, I know that you haven't kissed anybody or anything, but I was kind of thinking-"

"Wait," he interrupted. "I've kissed people." And for once it was Stephen who was giving a confused look that made it seem like he didn't understand anything.

"You've _what_? Who?"

"I dunno," he shrugged, "a bunch of people."

"A _bunch_ of people?"

"Well, like, Hanna, Euphie, Guy, Megumi, Hiiragi, Misao, Curt-" and if possible, Stephen's eyes got wider, and more disbelieving.

" _Curt_? Curt _Wild_? Like, plays-guitar-and-sings Curt? Like, Time Bomb Curt? Like, has-sex-with-a-bunch-of-different-people Curt?"

"Uh, yeah. That Curt. They were all on those mistletoe curse days- Oh, wait, that's right, you haven't been here for those times. It's around, uh, Christmas, I think. It comes around a lot. The curse, I mean." He pauses, considering. "I guess Christmas does, too, though."

"Woah, dude, that's like. Kind of a lot to process?" He was actually leaning against the counter with his hand on his head. Demyx had been watching people enough (and had seen Stephen's pre-gig panic attacks) to recognize that it wasn't a great sign.

"It is?"

"Well, yeah." And then he frowned. "I mean, yeah, I know that it was due to a curse, but you kissed all of those guys and we haven't done anything."

Demyx was a little taken aback.

"I- Oh, wait, I mean, do you want to? I know that people who're dating usually do, but, I dunno. You didn't ask or anything, and I don't really know how it's supposed to go, normally." He rubbed the back of his head absent-mindedly, and Stephen was calming down. That was good, at least.

"That actually makes sense, yeah. It's alright, man." And then he sighed. "I mean, I guess I'm asking now. We should, I dunno, try it out at least?"

Demyx perked up a little, at least physically, and tilted his head to one side.

"Yeah? I mean, alright, if you wanna, I guess we could. Uh, I mean, I still don't know how to start it, I've only ever kissed because of the mistletoe."

"What, ever?" Demyx nodded, and Stephen muttered under his breath, "If your Organization had a face, I would kick it in the ass."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Look, just hold on for a second." Stephen left the room, leaving Demyx alone to think about things. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on, or if Stephen was upset- he kind of seemed it- and then he left the room. That wasn't a good sign, was it?

When Stephen came back, he had a hand in his pocket. Demyx was about to ask him what was up, but before he could, he took his hand out of his pocket, revealing a sprig of mistletoe.

"I dunno why we have this, considering we haven't been here for Christmas in the City, but we figured it'd come in handy for Neil or something." He smiled wryly. "I guess that it's coming in handy for me, instead."

There was a pause as Demyx considered this. There were a lot of pauses where Demyx was concerned. And, like usual, this was out of pure confusion. Maybe Stephen didn't understand?

"Uh, I mean, the mistletoe is cursed. It's not- I mean, just having it here isn't gonna do anything."

Stephen sighed, but walked over closer to Demyx, and held it over their heads anyway.

"Well, we're trying it." And that was all the warning that Demyx got (aside from the five minute discussion prior, of course,) before he was being kissed.

Okay. He was dating Stephen, so this would be different than the other people he kissed, right? He was also cursed those other times, and this was just a completely different type of kiss.

Or, well, it was supposed to be. It _actually_ felt pretty much the same as all of those other ones had. Except he had kissed back during the curs- Oh, right, he should probably kiss back.

Five seconds later, he had made the same conclusion; it wasn't any different un-cursed, and they broke it soon afterwards. Demyx was concentrating on trying to figure out if there was any difference between Stephen and everyone else. He came up with nothing, except for maybe the beard scratching his chin a little. It was weird. Stephen eventually broke the silence.

"So. That didn't really work, huh?" And when Demyx pouted, he clarified, "I mean, it wasn't that good? Maybe we have to set up the mood a little more."

"The mood? How do we set it up?"

"I dunno. Maybe we could- Alright." He grabbed the dirty, wooden mixing spoon out of the bowl, and slowly licked a line of batter off of it.

" . . . What are you doing?"

"I'm- trying to be enticing."

"You're what? But you're just eating raw dough. Didn't you say that I shouldn't do that?"

Stephen sighed.

"Yeah. Usually it's alright, people eat raw dough all the time, but when you eat raw dough you're more susceptible to salmonella."

"Oh."

And then they waited for the cookies to finish baking, without any more conversation about kissing or their relationship.

They came out pretty decently.


	2. A step forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like that first chapter, but the exact opposite!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, when I originally wrote that first chapter, I was not intending on doing this. It just- the other direction that it could have gone just popped into my mind. And here I am now. I wanted to get both of their perspectives on everything, and I am so much more comfortable with Demyx, but I kind of had fun with Stephen!
> 
> I am going to be continuing this, although I won't be writing it the same way I did with these two. I will switch perspectives quite a bit, but I won't go back and re-write the SAME chapter again from the other one. I just did it with this one because it was kind of a different story altogether, but not different enough to warrant making it another work.

It wasn't as though he didn't know that he was weird. He was weird, and most of the people that he talked to were weird in a lot of ways. But not- _this_ type of weird. This was more the kind of weird that went against what encompassed 'human'.

He considered it. Anyone from back home was totally out, for a lot of different reasons. So, someone from the City. Should be simple enough; he talked to a _lot_ of different people, although currently not too many people knew about the whole Nobody thing. But there were a bunch of people that he was close enough with that he could ask out on a date.

And that was how, after Time Bomb had finished rehearsing, Demyx went up to Stephen, asked the life-changing question, and watched him promptly begin to panic.

"What-?" He had a really shocked look on his face. If Demyx were the sort of person to really concern themselves over exact phrasing, he would say that Stephen looked incredulous. However, since he wasn't, the word shocked was more than sufficient.

"Uh. Well, I mean, we're in the band together, and we get along, right?"

He was a little hesitant. He was starting to get a little unsure of that with how Stephen was panicking over this whole thing. He heard and saw him laugh, but it didn't really seem to be actual laughter. It was still kind of shaky, and there wasn't the usual substance that it had when he laughed. Or any real reason for it in the first place.

"Yeah. Yeah, dude, we get along, but just because I don't really have any problems with you doesn't mean I'm gonna go on a date with you. I mean, I had a girlfriend back home, remember? Why would you even assume-"

Assume what? What did, what was her name, Julie? What did Julie have to do with it? They had broken up, although, admittedly, from what Demyx had heard, this didn't mean that they wouldn't get back together again. Did it have to do with the fact that they were both guys?

"Oh, well, yeah, but- Wait, does that matter?" Stephen seemed to snap out of his imminent panic attack, and then he laughed. Possibly real this time, although there still wasn't really anything for him to laugh at.

"Yeah. It does. Like a lot. Straight people only go after people of the opposite sex, and gay people go after people of the same sex."

Well, okay, Demyx knew what being gay was, it was when a guy dated a guy, or a girl dated a girl. But he was kind of talking like it was an all-the-time thing, not just a currently-dating thing. Well, whatever, it was probably just a culture thing or something.

"Yeah, I guess I pretty much knew that, but, aren't there people who go after both?"

They stared at each other for a minute, before Stephen finally let out a sigh, and nodded.

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month later, Demyx was pretty happy with their arrangement. It was basically just him and Stephen hanging out; cooking, playing video games (a short-lived venture on Demyx's part), watching movies, and just generally talking. And Neil would even hang out with them some times! Stephen's couch saw a lot of the three of them over this past month.

He had told Stephen about being a Nobody, and what the Organization was like. All of his missions, the constant reiteration that they had no emotions, and how the rest of them reacted to Demyx's attitude and theories. He'd taken it all in stride, surprisingly enough, for someone who panicked at the drop of a hat, or the raise of a curtain. He asked questions about it sometimes, but that was hardly something Demyx minded. Dating was way better than he ever thought it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephen had gotten used to the way Demyx arrived. Well, that may have been a bit of a stretch. He wasn't sure that he would ever really get used to that swirling _woosh_ of what he was told was Darkness appearing suddenly and seeing Demyx step out. But he'd gotten used to the fact that he didn't need to unlock the door before their date was set, and the fact that Demyx was pretty much always on time, so he could at least mentally prepare himself for the sight.

What he _wasn't_ used to, was what he was planning on talking to Demyx about today. He'd already taken out all of the ingredients they were going to be using today, out of sheer nervousness and impatience. The idea of having a heart-to-heart, he was too nervous to think of another, less ironic term, with Demyx about their physicality? His palms were already sweating.

Sure enough, though, the familiar feeling of a change in- _texture_ in the air came, and he waited the thirty seconds that it took him to flip his hood down, he supposed you had to cover your head in those darkness passages or something, and grin. Stephen could never quite help the smile that crept up on his face whenever he did. Demyx was just kind of like a combination of an excitable puppy, and a really dumb kid.

"Hey. We're going back to basics. You remember the chocolate chip cookies we made?" Emphasis, of course, on 'remember'. Stephen swore, Demyx must have brought out his index cards like once an hour over something or other, and- Oh, nope, there they were.

"Yeah! They were good." He snorted and rolled his eyes at the appearance of the damn papers, and figured he might as well take advantage of it.

"Right, well, we're doing them again. We'll see if you improved at all from learning how to do other stuff." If he wrote the recipe down well, it would be a great starting point to really getting him able to cook something substantial without Stephen's help.

"Alright, cool!" There was a bit of time where he looked at the cards, took the measuring cups in his hand, and then a long pause. "Uh."

"What is it?" He bit back a sigh. Not a minute into it and he was already having problems.

"Which one is the sugar, again? There's a lot of white stuff on here."

A joke about cocaine would have been lost on him, even if he'd been able to gather himself enough to make one. He could only manage to stare at him while he turned around the air-locked container with SUGAR labeled on it.

"Oh. Uh, right." The next fifteen minutes actually went better than Stephen expected. Demyx was doing pretty well, minus a few things _"If it says one and a half teaspoons of vanilla, do I have to use the one and the half, or could I just fill it up halfway?" "Please tell me that you're not using the same fork for the dry ingredients that you_ just used to mix the eggs _." "How do I grease the pan? You don't even have any grease, do you?"_ , before sooner than he thought, the cookies were in the oven. He smiled at him again, surprisingly proud of him.

"Pretty good job. Maybe next time I'll have you do it without your little cue card, see how you do it on your own after a few more practice runs."

"What?" Oh man, was he ever pouting. Probably out of shock, he thought, and just snorted. He prepared himself; they had downtime now while the cookies baked. Now or never.

"Hey, so, I've kind of got a question." Demyx's head tilted in confusion. Typical. A simple statement and he didn't get it. His palms were sweating again.

"Uh, yeah, sure. What?"

"Well, we're dating now, right?" He was almost relieved to see that, yes, Demyx did understand this concept, when he nodded, "and you know how when people date they do stuff? Like, physical stuff." Demyx nodded again, and he inhaled, ready to continue, because, okay, maybe he'll get where I'm going with this. "Right, so, I know that you haven't kissed anybody or anything, but I was kind of thinking-"

"Wait," oh my god, what didn't he understand, what could he possibly be interrupting him for? "I've kissed people." Oh.

"You've _what_? Who?" This was hard to believe coming from Demyx.

"I dunno," a shrug, "a bunch of people."

"A _bunch_ of people?" Oh my god.

"Well, like, Hanna, Euphie, Guy, Megumi, Hiiragi, Misao, Curt-" _Oh my god._

" _Curt_? Curt _Wild_? Like, plays-guitar-and-sings Curt? Like, Time Bomb Curt? Like, has-sex-with-a-bunch-of-different-people Curt?" He couldn't believe this.

"Uh, yeah. That Curt. They were all on those mistletoe curse days- Oh, wait, that's right, you haven't been here for those times. It's around, uh, Christmas, I think. It comes around a lot. The curse, I mean. I guess Christmas does, too, though." Stephen barely heard any of what he was saying. _Demyx_ had macked with all of those people? _Demyx_?

"Woah, dude, that's like. Kind of a lot to process?" He hadn't noticed, but somewhere during his little revelation he'd gone against the counter, and his hand had become glued to his forehead, and his eyes gone wide.

"It is?" _**Oh my god.**_

"Well, yeah." He found himself frowning. "I mean, yeah, I know that it was due to a curse, but you kissed all of those guys and we haven't done anything." He also found himself surprised that it bothered him this much, and judging from his reaction, Stephen wasn't the only one surprised.

"I- Oh, wait, I mean, do you want to? I know that people who're dating usually do, but, I dunno. You didn't ask or anything, and I don't really know how it's supposed to go, normally." As Demyx rubbed the back of his head, Stephen came to realize, he wasn't macking on anyone. He was cursed into kissing them. He was still the oblivious guy he thought he was, and that's also why _they_ hadn't done anything physical, and that's when Stephen was able to start breathing normally again.

"That actually makes sense, yeah. It's alright, man." He sighed, feeling most of his tension draining out. "I mean, I guess I'm asking now. We should, I dunno, try it out at least?"

Demyx perked up a little, and cocked his head to the left. Did he look happier or was it just his own hope that he would be able to really do this?

"Yeah? I mean, alright, if you wanna, I guess we could. Uh, I mean, I still don't know how to start it, I've only ever kissed because of the mistletoe." It took all of Stephen's will-power not to balk at that. Even before the whole Organization thing?

"What, ever?" Demyx nodded. What the hell had he been doing before he was taken into the City- Oh. Right. He couldn't help a slipped-out, "If your Organization had a face, I would kick it in the ass."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Look, just hold on for a second." He left the room to go in the closet to search for something. He'd bought it as a gag, he was sure of it, if only he could find- Ah-hah! Got it. He roughly shoved it in his pocket as he walked back to the kitchen, head swimming with what was sure to be the most cliched thing he would ever do.

When he came back, he could see Demyx's 'I'm about to ask you a question' face, and he interrupted him by taking the mistletoe out of his pants pocket, palms sweating again.

"I dunno why we have this, considering we haven't been here for Christmas in the City, but we figured it'd come in handy for Neil or something." He smirked, "I guess that it's coming in handy for me, instead." He reconsidered asking Curt to help write a song. Holy crap that was the single worst line ever, how was he even able to communicate with other human beings on a daily basis? Why hasn't he been banned from public yet?

Fortunately, Demyx didn't seem to notice, however, unfortunately he looked confused as all hell.

"Uh, I mean, the mistletoe is cursed. It's not- I mean, just having it here isn't gonna do anything." Of course it wouldn't. Just his luck. Screw it, he was just going for it.

"Well, we're trying it." And then he just leaned in, and finally put his mouth on Demyx's. He was slightly concerned when, after five way-too-slow-seeming seconds, Demyx wasn't doing anything. And then he felt him slowly press back. He was hesitant, alternating between harder, more pursed lips, and a softer, more relaxed press.

 _Fuck the mistletoe,_ was his train of thought, and he tossed it to one side, hearing a light _clack_ as it landed somewhere he didn't care about, and he instead wrapped his arm around Demyx's back. He felt him stiffen a little, but he seemed to adapt pretty easily, and did the same around his back. Their left hands were still laying on each other's shoulders, and while Stephen would have liked to take it further, he figured that if this was his first non-curse kiss, it would probably be going too fast. He unwillingly broke the kiss, having decided a little too easily, that yes, kissing guys was pretty damn awesome, and that little flutter in his chest reminding him of what he almost never had with Julie, and he opened his eyes.

"So." Oh my god, how did he get so lame? Demyx just blinked at him, though. Oh my god, what if he didn't like it as much as Stephen did? _Oh my god, why did that thought bother him so much?_

"Huh." _**That didn't tell him anything**_ okay calm down, Stills.

"Yeah." Shit, should he take his arm off? Demyx wasn't, but if he really didn't get anything out of it, it was better to just get off now, so it wasn't the most embarrassing thing ever, although it was pretty much vying for that position right now.

"That was- nice." Oh, well slow down there, arm, you can stay right there for now.

"Yeah?" Yeah, this is the best conversation he's ever had. Totally smooth. That's him, smooth as ice, maybe he should move his arm anyway.

Except Demyx wasn't moving his arm, either. So maybe it was alright where it was for now.

"Yeah, I mean, even though I was cursed those other times, I didn't really get anything-" He was pausing to consider his phrasing, something that Stephen noted that he did a lot, especially when it came to emotional things, "well, like _that_. It was pretty cool." He paused again, as though he were internally debating something, as Stephen felt another smile on his face, almost drunk with relief. "Could we do that again."

"Totally." And he pressed to Demyx's face again. This time it was more passionate, and Demyx actually reacted on time, still hesitant, but Stephen broke the kiss just enough to catch Demyx's lower lip in between his own lips, and nibbled a little.

He actually heard _and_ felt Demyx draw a sharp inhale of a breath, and he cheered silently. Demyx was surprisingly able to catch on more, and he moved his lips open the slightest amount, and it almost put him mind of a fish. A sexy fish.

He regretted that thought immediately.

He concentrated, instead, on how he could feel his beard against Demyx's chin. Why did it feel so much better on him than it had on anyone else? His other hand was slowly moving towards Demyx's hair, and he figured he'd had enough going slow, and was opening his mouth to go a little bit further, when-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Stephen held back a groan, annoyed as the oven timer went off. He never thought he would hate cookies this much. Demyx just blinked, and unwrapped himself from their position, going over to turn the oven timer off, and put on his oven mitts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, Neil had come into the den, where they were watching another movie.

"Hey, dude, why is there plastic mistletoe on the dish soap?"

"Shut up and take a cookie."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks man." He grabbed one and they both saw him walk back to his room, still playing some game on his DS. Stephen grinned to himself; he hadn't noticed that they were on the same side of the couch tonight.

He reached his hand over towards his and grabbed it. He saw Demyx's eyes widen, then dart to where they were now holding hands. Stephen had a split-second panic attack when he broke their hold twenty seconds later, only to see him peeling off his glove, and resume their position, and he was actually touching his _bare_ hand now.

Stephen had never felt more like an excited little school boy in his life.

And he was very much okay with that right now.


End file.
